Author Archives: RED

Interview on Aesthetics & Politics for Bienalsur Podcast

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This two-part interview with Jennifer Ponce de León to discuss our respective work on aesthetics and politics with Leandro Martínez Depietri was just released as part of the Bienalsur podcast (in English). We discuss our past publications, Jennifer’s recent book, and our current book project together, engaging with the following themes: the historical materialist analysis of culture, the bourgeois concept and practice of art, the function of culture in actually existing socialism, the compositional model of ideology, and the overall role of culture as a weapon of class warfare. A special thanks to Leandro for making this happen, and for being such a great interlocutor!

Interviewed by Chris Hedges on the Past and Present of U.S. Fascism

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It was an honor to be featured again on Chris Hedges’ “On Contact” to discuss my ongoing research on the history and present manifestations of fascism, and more specifically my recent article for Liberation School entitled “Fascist Plots in the US: Contemporary Lessons from the 1934 ‘Business Plot.’” Click here to watch.

Excerpt: “We have to recognize that fascism takes different forms and different shapes, and that it’s always an element operative under capitalist rule and bourgeois democracy. As much as it [bourgeois democracy] can help us stave off certain fascist elements, it will keep some of them in the wings in case there’s ever a real threat to bourgeois democratic and hence capitalist rule.”

Interviewed about Fascism on The Real News Network

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I was thrilled to talk with Jacqueline Luqman on @TheRealNews about my ongoing research on fascism, which has appeared in Liberation School, Black Agenda Report & CounterPunch (click here for the list of articles). The interview is entitled “The History of Postwar Fascism Needs to Be Retold,” and here’s the abstract (click here to listen):

“Popular understandings of what fascism is, where it came from, and how it was ‘defeated’ have hindered our collective ability to identify and fight fascist threats beyond those that existed in Western Europe a century ago. In the latest installment of her ongoing series investigating the contours of fascism in the past and present, Jacqueline Luqman speaks with philosopher, cultural critic, and political theorist Gabriel Rockhill about the need to understand how the political and economic systems that produced European fascism did not disappear after World War II. Rockhill is Professor of Philosophy at Villanova University, founder and director of the Critical Theory Workshop/Atelier de Théorie Critique, former Directeur de programme at the Collège International de Philosophie, and the author/editor of numerous scholarly books in English and French.”

Interview on “By Any Means Necessary”

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Honored to be featured on one of my favorite podcasts to discuss my recent Liberation School article on the fascist plot to overthrow the US government in 1934 and how it relates to the capitalist ruling class’s backing of fascist movements today. This is followed by an important discussion of Moise’s assassination in Haiti. Click here to listen, and please don’t hesitate to circulate and support this podcast–it’s one of the best!

Haiti’s Moise Assassinated, and a History of Fascist Plots in the US

Interview on “No Easy Answers”

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I was honored to be featured on Jules Taylor’s podcast “No Easy Answers.” Click here to listen. We had a wide-ranging conversation about fascism and anti-communism, and we also discussed my research into the US National Security State and the promotion of French philosophy within the global theory industry.

Article: Fascist Plots in the US

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My most recent article, which is part of a larger book project, is now available here on Liberation School. It is entitled “Fascist Plots in the US: Contemporary Lessons from the 1934 ‘Business Plot.'” A special thanks to all of the comrades who provided insightful feedback on it prior to publication!

Excerpt: “A major segment of the capitalist class thus conspired to use its financial resources, network of elite operators, and control of the media to hire a charismatic leader, raise and arm a fascist militia of poor veterans, overthrow the elected government, and establish a fascist dictatorship in order to roll back the New Deal and thereby increase their profits. If they had succeeded in doing so, it is arguable that the history of the twentieth century would have been remarkably different” […read more].

Interview with Claudia De La Cruz on Culture as a Weapon of Class Warfare

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In collaboration with Liberation School, I was thrilled to be able to interview the Director of the People’s Forum, Claudia De La Cruz, about the role of culture in popular education, movement building and revolutionary struggle. Click here to read or watch.

Article on Foucault, Anti-Communism & the Global Theory Industry

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“Foucault, Anti-Communism & the Global Theory Industry” was just published in “The Philosophical Salon” in the Los Angeles Review of Books. It is a reply to critics regarding my earlier article, on the same platform, entitled “Foucault: The Faux Radical.”

Excerpt: “The widespread promotion of identity politics and French theory within the dominant apparatus of knowledge under global capitalism should serve as a clear indication to anyone who’s paying even scant attention that they are not a threat to the system. On the contrary, they are some of the primary intellectual forces driving what I’ve referred to as radical recuperation. By this I mean the tactic of producing the appearance of radicality—including symbolic systems of signification that are so inordinately intricate that many have trouble seeing how unmoored they are from actual socioeconomic struggles—in order to better recuperate insurgent forces within the extant system. ‘All symbol, no substance’ is their mantra, and they have made an enormous contribution to the intellectual world war against the very idea of communism.”